Buy Saratoga Springs to Stay at Aulani?

[Drewski77]

We love staying at Aulani but have been using our Grand Californian points to do so which I don’t like.

Would buying Saratoga Springs points to stay at Aulani be a good idea to save on the annual dues?

We stay in an Ocean View studio each year so I don’t think 7 month availability will be an issue.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[Great3]

I say that usually works very well as long as you aren’t looking for the most busy times such as in June and Holidays.

Great

 

[Drewski77]

I say that usually works very well as long as you aren’t looking for the most busy times such as in June and Holidays.

Great

Thanks for the reply and it’s just my wife and I so we usually go in February or October. Try to avoid big Holidays or school being out.

 

[Twohsieh]

We’re West Coasters that bought direct VGC points in 2010. We’ve only used our points at VGC and Aulani, but mostly at Aulani.
We are a family of five that only travel during early June immediately after our kids get out of school.
We’ve found it difficult to book at the 7 month mark for our last two Aulani vacations. Our desired dates for any 1 BR at Aulani was getting harder and harder to book than previous bookings. We’ve had to reschedule our vacation dates due to the unavailability.
I told my husband that it would become even more difficult when all of the remaining Aulani timeshares sell out.
We ended up buying an Aulani resale contract with subsidized dues last year.
I feel relieved that our planned vacation dates to Aulani will have a high chance of being booked for us having the 11 month booking advantage.
As others have said on this board, you should buy where you want to stay.
We really love Aulani and we just wanted to guarantee our desired vacation dates for years to come.

 

[Great3]

We’re West Coasters that bought direct VGC points in 2010. We’ve only used our points at VGC and Aulani, but mostly at Aulani.
We are a family of five that only travel during early June immediately after our kids get out of school.
We’ve found it difficult to book at the 7 month mark for our last two Aulani vacations. Our desired dates for any 1 BR at Aulani was getting harder and harder to book than previous bookings. We’ve had to reschedule our vacation dates due to the unavailability.
I told my husband that it would become even more difficult when all of the remaining Aulani timeshares sell out.
We ended up buying an Aulani resale contract with subsidized dues last year.
I feel relieved that our planned vacation dates to Aulani will have a high chance of being booked for us having the 11 month booking advantage.
As others have said on this board, you should buy where you want to stay.
We really love Aulani and we just wanted to guarantee our desired vacation dates for years to come.

Yes, 100% agree, if you want early June in Aulani, and don’t want to worry, it’s best to own there. I assume OP wanted a WDW based home resort, to use for WDW trips most of the time, with some use for Aulani.

But if going the Aulani every year, than I agree, look for subsidize Aulani contract instead of SSR.

Great3

 

[Drewski77]

We’re West Coasters that bought direct VGC points in 2010. We’ve only used our points at VGC and Aulani, but mostly at Aulani.
We are a family of five that only travel during early June immediately after our kids get out of school.
We’ve found it difficult to book at the 7 month mark for our last two Aulani vacations. Our desired dates for any 1 BR at Aulani was getting harder and harder to book than previous bookings. We’ve had to reschedule our vacation dates due to the unavailability.
I told my husband that it would become even more difficult when all of the remaining Aulani timeshares sell out.
We ended up buying an Aulani resale contract with subsidized dues last year.
I feel relieved that our planned vacation dates to Aulani will have a high chance of being booked for us having the 11 month booking advantage.
As others have said on this board, you should buy where you want to stay.
We really love Aulani and we just wanted to guarantee our desired vacation dates for years to come.

Thanks for your feedback and we like to stay in an Ocean View studio each year.

It is just my wife and I and we have flexibility on our travel dates but mostly February or October. We live in Washington State so good months to escape the rain.

Might just hold out for the right Aulani contract but much more SSR availability with the UY we are looking for.

 

[DVC Doctor]

I would buy Aulani for sure over SSR

 

[OKW Lover]

It is just my wife and I and we have flexibility on our travel dates but mostly February or October. We live in Washington State so good months to escape the rain.

I'd go with the cheapest resort in your case. While we own some Aulani points, we book our trips there at the 7-month window since ~75% of our points are WDW properties and we need those for the long stays at Aulani. Being flexible in your travels, especially in the months of February or October, should work for you.

Why not try a dummy booking right now for October dates since Its inside the 7-month window?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I agree with the others - buy Aulani since that's where you want to use the points annually. Hopefully you find one with your use year soon.

If this was a one-off trip and you usually stay at WDW, I'd say SSR would be the better choice, but that is not your situation.

 

[Drewski77]

Why not try a dummy booking right now for October dates since Its inside the 7-month window?

Great idea, and trying different dates in October a week long stay for an Ocean View studio is still available.

Other room types have partial availability and with Covid I’m not sure if Disney has opened all rooms at Aulani to book.

 

[Sandisw]

Great idea, and trying different dates in October a week long stay for an Ocean View studio is still available.

Other room types have partial availability and with Covid I’m not sure if Disney has opened all rooms at Aulani to book.

All DVC rooms had to be released for booking that are part of declared inventory.

But, DVD still owns points so it’s possible they reserved rooms as well. That means whatever you are seeing or not is all there is unless owners cancel.

 

[Drewski77]

All DVC rooms had to be released for booking that are part of declared inventory.

But, DVD still owns points so it’s possible they reserved rooms as well. That means whatever you are seeing or not is all there is unless owners cancel.

That is good to know. The price per point is similar but the maintenance fees are not, and I would expect this gap to continue widening.

Long term not sure which resort will hold its value better, but I have heard that there is some extra tax when buying or selling timeshares in Hawaii.

I am partial to buying where you stay, but still not sure that is needed with our travel flexibility to Aulani.

 

[Sandisw]

That is good to know. The price per point is similar but the maintenance fees are not, and I would expect this gap to continue widening.

Long term not sure which resort will hold its value better, but I have heard that there is some extra tax when buying or selling timeshares in Hawaii.

I am partial to buying where you stay, but still not sure that is needed with our travel flexibility to Aulani.

Personally would not buy SSR if my trips were mainly for Aulani. Worst thing is to own something and then struggle to use it the way you want.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Since you've already been doing your stays at Aulani with non-Aulani points and are flexible about it then yes that should work. It would be no different than you are doing now and you won't be using your VGC points on it if you also still do DL stays. If you already have enough points though to cover Aulani and VGC then I lean towards just continue with what you are doing until it no longer works.

 

[Drewski77]

Since you've already been doing your stays at Aulani with non-Aulani points and are flexible about it then yes that should work. It would be no different than you are doing now and you won't be using your VGC points on it if you also still do DL stays. If you already have enough points though to cover Aulani and VGC then I lean towards just continue with what you are doing until it no longer works.

Makes sense, and what’s happened is we sold some VGC points as they’ve gone up so much but now need more points to continue Aulani trips each year.

 

[Twohsieh]

Thanks for your feedback and we like to stay in an Ocean View studio each year.

It is just my wife and I and we have flexibility on our travel dates but mostly February or October. We live in Washington State so good months to escape the rain.

Might just hold out for the right Aulani contract but much more SSR availability with the UY we are looking for.

We ended up with a different UY (April vs June) for our Aulani subsidized contract. We knew that it would be hard to find a matching UY with a subsidized contract so we were willing to have two UYs.
We bought enough Aulani points where we wouldn’t need to transfer points from our VGC contracts to stay at Aulani.
To our surprise, when I logged into our DVC member portal after our closing finalized, I saw both of our resorts under the same login. I have read in the past that members had to have separate logins for each use year. In any case, I’m glad to be able to access the contracts under one portal sign in.
As for the Hawaii Tax comment, we didn’t incur any taxes when buying the resale contract but the seller had to pay the state taxes for the sale of their timeshare.
The subsidized maintenance fees were about $6.42 verses the standard $8.62. I think it is well worth the wait to find a subsidized Aulani contract. Act quickly when you see one, they go quick.

 

[The Jackal]

All DVC rooms had to be released for booking that are part of declared inventory.

But, DVD still owns points so it’s possible they reserved rooms as well. That means whatever you are seeing or not is all there is unless owners cancel.

DVC still owns about 50% of the points there.

 

[Stargazer65]

If you are going to a particular resort every year, you should probably buy at that resort.

OTOH, if you're looking for the cheapest way to get there, and understand the downside of limiting your booking window, it makes perfect sense. I could see myself doing it, because I'm just weird like that.

 

[Great3]

If you are going to a particular resort every year, you should probably buy at that resort.

OTOH, if you're looking for the cheapest way to get there, and understand the downside of limiting your booking window, it makes perfect sense. I could see myself doing it, because I'm just weird like that.

100% agree, I always look for the cheapest option usually, and just work around the limitations and downside. But I am very flexible with my travel dates, and enjoy the search. While it may be a challenge and enjoyment for me, for others it's just too darn frustrating. So, I am weird just like that also. Glad to know I ain't the only one .

Great3

 

[RoseGold]

I told my husband that it would become even more difficult when all of the remaining Aulani timeshares sell out.

LOL, it's like 50% sold. At this rate, it will take a while...

I wouldn't buy Aulani as a timeshare because of Hawaii's laws. Hawaii has taxes and hoops that other states do not, and HI has changed laws in ways that have not benefited owners. I wouldn't want to own it because it is clearly not Disney's focus, they'll be selling it direct for such a long time, and the demand is just not there for the resale when it's time to sell, at least that's what recent years have shown.

At least with SSR, the most bought and sold timeshare in the world, you know you can get in and out of easily enough.